Confederate Flag Drawing Mixed Reactions
Confederate Banner Earns Criticism and Pride from Bay Area, CA
Jul 3, 2008
A decision to raise a giant Confederate Flag near a major highway conjunction has community members arguing over the action’s message.
On June 3, 2008 the Tampa-area chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans first raised the 30-by-50-foot flag on a 139-foot pole near the junction of Interstate 75 and U.S. 92. Although later taken down, the group vowed they would raise the flag again in the near future.
The group’s choice to display the flag rests with last year’s decision by the county commissioner not to endorse Confederate Memorial Day. Speaking to Hillsborough County Commissioners on June 4, SOCV member Marion Lambert stated the display came from the group’s desire to recognize the past. The St. Petersburg Times reported Lambert, who owns the property where the flag had been raised, told the commission that “all we want is to be honored for who we are.”
The flag’s appearance has been met with controversy in the bay area. The heart of the argument rests on the differing views of the flag’s history. The flag has long been a symbol of the South that evokes passionate critical responses. Some view it with pride as a reminder of their roots and heritage while others, namely the area’s black community, see it instead as a reminder of slavery, racism and injustice.
Following the June 3, 2008 display, several county commissioners and various social organizations have voiced this concern since the flag first went up, which has done little to halt the SOCV from moving forward with its intentions to raise it again.
So while community groups continue to voice their opposition to the SOCV’s decision, the diverse response for the bay area communities has led to an ongoing debate over the flag’s historic significance and symbolism.
The city has inexperienced several episodes of racial tension due to the Confederate flag. In 2006 the city fired former employee Larry A. Carpenter for displaying the flag on his front license plate. Carpenter later settled the case but did not receive his job back. Hillsborough County, where the flag has been raised, also featured the symbol on its county seal before removing it in 1994 and there have been several episodes of high school students protesting for and against the flag at their schools in the last ten years.
The Tampa Tribune reported the SOCV has vowed to keep the flag, located at the junction between Interstate 75 and U.S. 92, on permanent display by the end of July 2008.
